Shot a bruiser with a slug quartering away flipped him over and far shoulder/leg unusable. I'm thinking I missed vitals and hit him between lungs and spine then blew out far shoulder. Tracked him next morning and bumped him 17 hours after shot. Pushed him with good blood trail. Opted to back out. Later in the day bumped him again not too far from where we backed out. Bed soiled with blood. Went into a creek bottom with a pinch point so decided to back out again. Went back 2 days later and expected to find him dead. I bumped him again out of his bed. No blood but some hair. Didn't move from his bed in two days. When bumped he did not bolt but no wobble either. Is this guy gonna die ? Can't imagine him surviving a slug through his ribs busting up far shoulder. Thoughts ?

It sounds like you tried hard over several days to finish it off. Some animal had a good meal. There is a big difference between not tracking at all and working your butt off trying to find the animal. You shouldn't feel bad but I can tell you still do. I have missed animals, but as far as I know I haven't hit and lost one yet. My Brother in law did gut shoot a Buck 30 years ago and I am haunted by the fact I didn't finish it off prior to it making it to the nasty swamp. I could have shot at the Deer, but it wasn't an easy shot angle from where I was sitting. I was trying to figure out why it appeared to be moving slow with its head down until I talked to him 30 minutes later. He hit it, and knew that his shot was bad. He was tracking it hoping that I would get a shot and finish it. To this day I really think that I should have stood up and taken the shot. The Deer was hurting to much to have noticed me standing up. I still feel that I let the animal down.